Live Tournament Updates
Day 1b at the 2007 North American Poker Championship
Level 40: 1,000,000-2,000,000, 300,000 ante
Niagara Falls is a breath-taking display of power. The water of the Niagara River rushes from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario and inescapably speeds up as it approaches the chaotic plunge. Niagara Falls is a force of Mother Nature. There was also another force of nature on display at day 1b of the World Poker Tour North American Poker Championship. His name is Steve Buckner, and he is a force of human nature. His penchant for one-liners and gift for gab rumbled along as consistently as the falls rumbled close by throughout the day. "Buckle your buckets because it is time for a ride," said Buckner at one point of the day. While nothing is able to quiet the falls, Buckner was quiet for one period of the day (more on that later), and he was ultimately silent by the end of the play.
Play started at noon and 169 players took their seats for the second day one of the tournament. Although there were a fair amount of professionals, most of them seem to be waiting for tomorrow to ante up their $10,000. There was one table at the start of play that did act as a professional-poker-player-magnet:
Table 7:
Seat 6 - Shane Schleger
Seat 7 - Thayer Rasmussen
Seat 8 - Vanessa Rousso
Seat 9 - Sorel Mizzi
This was the highest concentration of professional players on day 1b, although one of them would soon make an exit. Rousso was the first player of the day to be eliminated, and it was Schleger who dropped the hammer. Other players to make early exits and join her on the rail included: Alan Gohering, Haralabos Voulgaris, David “The Dragon” Pham, Tom Schneider, Freddy Deeb, and Chad Brown.
Strict Canadian gaming regulations also created an interesting predicament for one player early on day 1b. After the first break, Mario "pwnasaurus" Silvestri attempted to rejoin the rest of the field and continue with level two. Unfortunately for the young online player, he wasn't allowed to play because he had misplaced his casino identification badge. Every player in the NAPC was given a lanyard and badge with an identification number. Without the badge, players could not enter the tournament floor, and Silversti did not have his badge. He was blinded off for nearly 35 minutes before he returned with it in tow.
Apparently, Silvestri left the badge in his room and had to walk all the way back to his hotel to retrieve the I.D. Silvestri only needed the badge for a little while longer, he was eliminated from the tournament about two hours later.
As the dinner break approached Jeremiah Smith emerged as the chip leader. He consistently won small pots throughout the day and his chip stack confirmed as much by the large number of small denomination chips he possessed. A chip stack can often be representative of a player’s strategy, and while Smith’s stack had a lot of small chips, it was in sharp contrast to the chip stack of Marc Karam. Karam plays large pots, and he possessed many large denomination chips when he took the chip lead over from Smith after the dinner break (they were seated at the same table at the time): On a board of A
104
with 40,000 in the pot, Karam was all in for 21,050. His opponent thought for a few minutes and then called with AK
. Karam turned over 64 and the turn and river came KQ to double him up to 83,000. Big pot poker is volatile poker though, and Karam quickly lost the chip lead. Another player seated at the table with Smith and Karam during this stretch was none other than Steve Buckner.
Buckner was also near the top of the leader board at this point in the tournament and his mouth was moving as fast as his chips. This got him into a little bit of trouble when he was hit with a one-rotation penalty for using profanity by Tournament Director Jason March. The ghost of Buckner hovered in the room while he sat it out at the rail and game three of the World Series played on every monitor in the room. March, who is a lifelong fan of the Boston Red Sox, may have regretted his decision to give a penalty to a man named "Buckner" while the Sox were in the World Series though. Everything was going great for the Red Sox; they led the Series 2-0, and were up 6-0 against the Colorado Rockies at the time. But ...the Red Sox were also on the verge of winning the World Series in 1986, before a wild pitch and a ball between the legs of another man named Buckner capped a New York Mets rally to force a seventh game - which the Red Sox lost, exactly 21 years ago today. Could the curse of Buckner rise again?
As far as the World Series went…not so much, the Sox won game three by a score of 10-5 and the only person who came out of the predicament with any signs of a curse was Buckner. He sat out the remainder of the penalty and was quiet when he returned, both verbally and with his chips. "I haven't played a hand since I got back," said Buckner. His stack began to dwindle and Buckner was knocked down to 23,500 after an opponent doubled up through him. The end was near. “I can’t win a hand, Cuz,” said Buckner repeatedly, to no one in particular. The final blow was dealt by Allen Kessler (who finished the day with 69,700). Kessler had Buckner dominated with A-K against A-5, and he made his exit from the tournament when no help came on the board. Other players that were sent to the rail during the late part of day 1b included: John Juanda, Theo Tran, Sorel Mizzi, Jim “Krazy Kanuck” Worth, Nenad Medic, and Justin Bonomo.
Shortly after midnight the tournament clock reached 30 minutes remaining in the seventh level, and play was stopped to match exactly the amount of time played on day 1a. The 78 players who remained bagged up their chips and they will return for day two, on Monday, October 29. Karam continued to play big-pot poker and the roller coaster ride left him at the top of the leader board by the end of the day. Here is a look at the top five at the end of the night, as well as a number of the notables remaining:
Marc Karam – 126,600
Jeff Kostrnuik – 125,900
Jordan Morgan – 124,500
Jeff Garza – 111,300
Aran Jamasi – 102,200
Lee Markholt – 71,100
Jeremiah Smith – 71,000
Allen Kessler – 69,700
Kathy Liebert – 58,000
Daniel Shak – 50,500
Marcello Del Grosso – 38,300
Shane Schleger – 35,500
Jeff Madsen – 21,500
Soren Turkewitsch – 20,500 (2006 NAPC Champion)
Day 1c will begin tomorrow at noon and the final set of players will start their quest to win the 2007 NAPC title. Many professionals have been spotted along the rail during the first two days of play, including Daniel Negreanu, J.C. Tran, and Nam Le. Catch all the action featuring these players and many more tomorrow, including live updates, chip counts, and photos on WorldPokerTour.com and CardPlayer.com.
12:10 AM, 10/28/07
Day 1b Comes to an End
Level 40: 1,000,000-2,000,000, 300,000 ante
With approximately 79 players remaining from today's field of 169, Day 1b comes to an end. The players will now confirm their chip counts with the tournament staff before signing off on their chip bags. It takes a little longer than most end-of-day-one procedures, but it's an added layer of security. Stay tuned for official chip counts from the notable players soon, with full chip counts to be posted later tonight when they are released by the casino. There will also be a recap of today's action posted within the hour.
Sorted In: North American Poker Championship, Fallsview Casino Resort, Season VI09:29 PM, 10/27/07
Jeremiah Smith Catches a Pair at a Bad Time
Level 40: 1,000,000-2,000,000, 300,000 ante
Jeremiah Smith raises under the gun, and Fred Tierney calls from the big blind. The flop comes J98, Tierney checks, Smith bets 2,200, and Tierney calls.
The turn card is the Q, and Tierney thinks for nearly a minute before he moves all in for more than 25,000. Smith shrugs and shows one card as he folds -- the Q. Jeremiah drops down to about 71,000 on the hand, while Tierney moves up to about 33,000 in chips.
09:25 PM, 10/27/07
Sorry Cuz, Steve Buckner Eliminated
Level 40: 1,000,000-2,000,000, 300,000 ante
Allen Kessler raises on the button, and Steve Buckner moves all in with A-5. Kessler calls with A-K, Buckner fails to improve and is eliminated.
Sorted In: North American Poker Championship, Fallsview Casino Resort, Season VI08:59 PM, 10/27/07
Don't Shove
Level 40: 1,000,000-2,000,000, 300,000 ante
|:img:4060,R:|Seat three checks a flop of 1052
, Mike Leah bets 3,500 and both Lee Markholt and Adam Junglen call. The turn is the 5, and Leah shoves with both players covered significantly. This puts Lee Markholt into the tank and he says,"Sick bet, why so much?"
Markholt doesn't get the answer he is looking for, and mucks his cards. Junglen also thinks for a few moments but mucks as well. Leah is currently among the chip leaders with over 80,000.
08:57 PM, 10/27/07
Steve Buckner Chipping Down
Level 40: 1,000,000-2,000,000, 300,000 ante
|:img:4035,L:|After a flop of Q65, Steve Buckner bets 2,500, Seat 4 goes into the tank, and Buckner begins to talk. "I got 9,000 behind, Cuz, so it's 11,500 if you want to put me all in, Cuz." Allen Kessler chimes in with, "He didn't even ask you to tell him that."
Eventually, Seat 4 raises to 7,500. Buckner folds and says to no one in particular, "I can't win a hand, Cuz."
08:32 PM, 10/27/07
Play Resumes
Level 40: 1,000,000-2,000,000, 300,000 ante
Play resumes with increased blinds of 300-600 and a 100 ante. Play will stop in one hour (about 12:25 am Eastern), with 30 minutes remaining in Level 7. That's the same point that play concluded yesterday (Day 1a), and tomorrow's field (Day 1c) will follow the same schedule.
Sorted In: North American Poker Championship, Fallsview Casino Resort, Season VI08:27 PM, 10/27/07
Break Time
Level 40: 1,000,000-2,000,000, 300,000 ante
The players are on the last 15 minute break of the night and they will return to play one hour into level 7. The tournament staff is currently racing off the green 25 chips.
Sorted In: North American Poker Championship, Fallsview Casino Resort, Season VI08:11 PM, 10/27/07
Last Year's Champ Soren Turkewitsch Takes a Hit
Level 40: 1,000,000-2,000,000, 300,000 ante
|:img:4015,L:|Soren Turkewitsch raises from middle position to 1,250, and Jen McCarten calls from the cutoff, but she mistakenly puts too many chips out. The player on the button quickly calls, but it's then determined that she put out more than half of a raise, so McCarten is forced to complete the min-raise to 2,100. A floorperson is called over, and the button is forced to call the min-raise because his verbal action is binding. The player on the button complains, but to no avail, and he puts the additional chips back in the pot.
To make matters worse, Turkewitsch then moves all in, and McCarten calls with a short stack. The button folds, angered that he forfeited far more chips than he planned.
Turkewitsch shows AQ, but he's dominated by McCarten's AK. The board comes 105464, and Jen McCarten wins the pot with her king kicker to double up to 22,500.
Soren Turkewitsch takes a hit but is still alive to defend his title with about 20,000 in chips.
08:10 PM, 10/27/07
Liebert Survives...Eliminates Opponent
Level 40: 1,000,000-2,000,000, 300,000 ante
|:img:4034,R:|Kathy Liebert raises 1,200 from middle position preflop and Seat 4 makes the call right behind her. Seat 8 reraises to 3,000 and then Liebert moves all in. Seat 4 folds and Seat 8 makes the all-in call. They flip up their cards and Liebert has pocket aces against Seat 8's AQ. The board rolls out J4210J and Liebert wins the pot. She barely has her opponent covered and he is eliminated on the hand.
08:09 PM, 10/27/07
